NHRA championship team owner Don Schumacher at home, on road to recovery

Don went through surgery to treat cancer.

Don Schumacher (in photo, with John Force) is resting at home after successful surgery Wednesday to treat cancer at the back of his tongue and two lymph nodes.

The owner of Schumacher Electric Corp. and Don Schumacher Racing had surgery for Stage 1 Squamous cell carcinoma in a six-hour procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He returned home early Saturday where he will continue to recover before any further treatments are considered.

"I just want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for me and my family," he said. "There are so many wonderful people in our sport, and I can't tell you how much you all mean to me.

"My teams are hard at work getting ready for 2015 and I'll be working just as hard getting ready to be back out there with them."

The early stage of the cancer was discovered during Don's annual physical and he stresses the importance of getting regular physicals.

Schumacher's U.S. Army Top Fuel and Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots Funny Car teams won their respective NHRA world championships Nov. 15-16 at the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event at Pomona, Calif.